A SERMON 

F REACHED  EY 


Rrfv.  EDWARD  P.  GOODWIN,  D.D. 


BEFORE  THE 


AMERICAN  BOARD  OF  COMMISSIONERS 
FOR  FOREIGN  MISSIONS, 


SEVENTY-THIRD  ANNUAL  MEETING, 


HELD  AT 


Portland,  Maine,  October  3,  1882. 


The  Holy  Spirit  and  Missions. 


A SERMON 


BEFORE  THE 


American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions, 


SEVENTY-THIRD  ANNUAL  MEETING, 


Portland,  Maine,  October  3,  1882. 


1IY 


REV.  EDWARD  P.  GOODWIN,  D.D. 

Chicago,  Illinois. 


BOSTON : 

BEACON  PRESS:  THOMAS  TODD,  CONGREGATIONAL  HOUSE, 

NO.  I SOMERSET  STREET. 

1SS3. 


H66 


I 


SERMON. 


“As  THEY  MINISTERED  TO  THE  LORD,  AND  FASTED,  THE  IiOLY 

Ghost  said, -Separate  me  Barnabas  and  Saul  for  the 

WORK.  WHEREUNTO  I HAVE  CALLED  THEM.” — Acts  Xlii  : 2. 

The  door  swings  here  upon  a new  era  in  the  history  of  the 
church.  The  day  of  the  Jew  was  ended,  the  day  of  the  Gen- 
tile begun.  Prior  to  this,  Paul  had  preached  in  Cilicia  and 
Peter  had  been  sent  to  the  house  of  Cornelius,  where  the 
Spirit  sealed  the  testimony  to  the  Gentiles  with  great  power. 
Some  of  those,  also,  who  “ were  scattered  abroad  upon  the 
persecution  that  arose  about  Stephen  ” had  gone  as  far  as 
Antioch,  preaching  unto  the  Grecians  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  “a 
great  number  had  believed  and  turned  to  the  Lord.”  But 
this  was  exceptional  and  anticipatory.  In  the  main,  the  gos- 
pel had  been  preached  to  “none  but  unto  the  Jews  only.” 
(Acts  ix  : 30;  x:  44;  xi : 19-21.) 

The  text  is  the  pivotal  point  of  the  new  departure.  Now 
the  work  of  spreading  the  gospel  among  .the  Gentiles  is  taken 
in  hand  and  formally  inaugurated.  Henceforth,  the  church 
appears  as  a missionary  church.  The  map  of  her  future  cam- 
paigns is  no  longer  bounded  by  the  narrow  rim  that  embraces 
Palestine,  but  pushes  its  border  east,  west,  north,  south,  to 
the  utmost  horizon  — a boundary  line  that  takes  in  the  world. 

Note  how  the  work  is  undertaken  and  carried  on. 
Not  Barnabas,  nor  Peter,  nor  John,  nor  even  Paul,  advises, 
projects,  shapes  the  enterprise.  It  is  altogether  the  purpose, 
the  plan,  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  He  originates  the 
scheme ; he  chooses  and  calls  the  workmen ; he  equips  them 
for  their  service.  This  text  record  stands  for  this  whole  mis- 


4 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 


sion  history  of  the  book  of  Acts.  From  first  to  last,  in  choos- 
ing apostles  or  choosing  deacons,  in  holding  councils,  in  lay- 
ing all  plans,  in  doing  all  work,  the  one  overshadowing  fact  is 
the  recognized  supremacy  and  leadership  of  the  Spirit.  And 
in  this  single  fact  lies,  beyond  question,  the  secret  of  that 
amazing  success  in  diffusing  the  gospel  among  the  nations, 
that  has  made  this  first  era  of  the  work  of  the  church  the 
inspiring  model  for  all  after  years.  Other  factors  — conse- 
crated genius,  eloquence,  learning,  money  — had  their  place 
and  power.  But  these  had  to  do  with  the  work  and  its  results, 
much  as  in  the  grand  campaigns  of  Napoleon  every  marshal, 
and  general,  and  colonel,  and  captain,  and  every  soldier  of  the 
battalions  had  to  do  in  achieving  victory.  They  were  indis- 
pensable and  potential,  each  and  all ; but  it  was  through  their 
unswerving  loyalty  to  the  one  supreme  wisdom  that  planned 
the  battles,  and  the  one  supreme  will  that  fused  and  ruled 
all  other  wills,  and  inspired  all  other  hearts,  that  the  final 
triumph  came. 

So  here.  There  was  no  iron  sovereignty  working  out  its 
behests,  and  making  no  account  of  the  diverse  and  peculiar 
gifts  and  adaptations  of  those  on  whom  it  laid  its  hand. 
There  was  fullest  place  and  play  for  the  fire  of  Peter,  the 
amiability  of  Barnabas,  the  persuasiveness  of  John,  the  learn- 
ing and  logic  of  Paul;  ample  place  and  power,  too,  for  gifts, 
and  prayer,  and  toil.  But  all  these  elements  and  forces  were 
clearly  subordinate.  Behind  them,  and  working  through  them, 
the  one  pervading,  inspiring,  potential  reason  of  their  efficiency 
was  the  leadership  and  supremacy  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  This 
would  seem  too  plain  on  the  face  of  the  records  to  admit  of 
question.  If  any  doubt,  they  have  only  to  turn  to  the  twelfth 
chapter  of  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians;  for  therein 
the  apostle  Paul,  expounding  this  very  matter  of  spiritual  gifts 
and  work,  expressly  affirms  that  all  these  “diversities  of  gifts,” 
and  “operations,”  “ worketh  that  one  and  the  selfsame  Spirit, 
dividing  to  every  man  severally  as  he  will.”  No  language 
could  more  clearly  or  emphatically  affirm  the  supreme  lord- 
ship  of  the  Spirit. 

But  God’s  plan  is  not  changed,  nor  his  gospel,  nor  the 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 


office  and  work  of  the  Spirit.  The  command  of  Christ  lays 
its  touch  upon  us  to-day  with  precisely  the  same  obligation  as 
upon  the  disciples  who  heard  it  from  his  lips.  Now,  as  truly 
as  at  Antioch,  the  Spirit  assumes  the  sovereign  management 
of  all  efforts  to  send  forth  into  all  the  world  the  glad  tidings 
of  salvation.  The  methods  he  uses,  the  manifestations  of  him- 
self he  makes,  are  different ; but  his  regnancy  is  unchanged. 
He  came  at  Pentecost  to  abide  in  the  world,  and  not  merely  to 
abide  as  one  who  should  teach,  lead,  sanctify,  empower  all 
Christ’s  disciples,  but  to  take  them  under  his  divine  control, 
and  by  that  domination,  lovingly  accepted,  carry  the  scheme 
of  redemption  to  its  issue. 

Not  what  we  think  or  prefer,  therefore;  not  what  we  can 
reason  out  as  a fitting  end  for  the  gospel  to  propose;  not' 
what  we  can  demonstrate  as  certain  to  be  a success  — nothing 
of  all  this  is  to  have  place  here.  First,  last,  always,  as  to  our 
aim  and  our  methods,  as  to  the  toilers  who  go  forth,  the  fields 
into  which  they  go,  the  truths  which  they  shall  proclaim,  and 
as  to  the  prayers  and  gifts  of  those  who  send  them,  the  one 
only  question  is,  what  is  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  ? Find  that, 
and  we  find  for  all  time  the  one  supreme,  unvarying  law  of 
missions.  If  we  fail  here,  we  fail  everywhere. 

THE  END  PROPOSED. 

What,  then,  did  these  first  missionaries  propose  to  do? 
What  was  the  end  they  sought  to  realize  ? This  text  chap- 
ter, the  first  chapter  of  distinctively  missionary  history,  will 
enable  us  to  see.  After  Paul  and  Barnabas  had  found  it 
impossible  to  persuade  the  Jews  of  Pisidian  Antioch  to  accept 
the  truth  concerning  Jesus  Christ,  and  had  said,  “ Seeing  ye 
judge  yourselves  unworthy  of  everlasting  life,  lo,  we  turn  to 
the  Gentiles,”  there  follows  this  record:  “And  when  the  Gen- 
tiles heard  this,  they  were  glad,  and  glorified  the)  word  of  the 
Lord,  and  as  many  as  were  ordained  to  eternal  life,  believed.” 
(Acts  xiii  : 46-48.) 

This  word  “ ordained  ” is  one  of  the  key-words  of  the  gos- 
pel. Its  counterparts  meet  us  all  through  the  New  Testa- 
ment scriptures.  Believers  are  those  “called,”  “chosen,” 


6 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 


“sealed,”  “predestinated.”  Taken  together  they  constitute 
an  “ ecclesia,”  a company  of  those  “ called  out  ” from  the 
world.  The  apostle  James,  speaking  in  the  council  at  Jerusa- 
lem of  Peter’s  missionary  visit  to  the  house  of  Cornelius,  says, 
“Simeon  hath  declared  how  God  at  the  first  did  visit  the 
Gentiles,  to  take  out  of  them  a people  for  his  name.”  (Acts 
xv  : 14.)  And  Peter,  writing  in  after  years  to  Gentile  con- 
verts, the  fruits  of  missionary  labors  in  “ Pontus,  Galatia,  Cap- 
padocia, Asia,  and  Bithynia,”  gives  them  greeting  as  “ elect 
according  to  the  foreknowledge  of  God.”  Then,  a little 
further  on,  expounding  this  language,  and  emphasizing  the 
obligation  to  holy  living  which  it  involved,  he  says:  “But  ye 
are  a chosen  generation,  a royal  priesthood,  an  holy  nation,  a 
peculiar  people;  that  ye  should  shew  forth  the  praises  of  him 
who  hath  called  you  out  of  darkness  into  his  marvellous  light.” 
(I  Pet.  ii : 9.)  And  Paul,  setting  forth  only  more  specifically 
the  same  gospel  which  he  preached  on  his  first  missionary 
journey,  and  writing  like  Peter  to  Gentile  Christians,  not  only 
calls  them  “chosen,”  but  “chosen”  in  Christ  “before  the 
foundation  of  the  world.”  And  he  goes  further,  and  declares 
that  the  purpose  of  God  in  this  choosing  or  predestinating  of 
them  as  believers,  was  that  they  might  be  “ members  of  the 
body  of  Christ,”  might  “comprehend  with  all  saints,  the 
breadth,  and  length,  and  depth,  and  height  of  the  love  of 
Christ  which  passeth  knowledge,”  and  so  be  “filled  with  all 
the  fulness  of  God.”  And  all  this  in  order  that  through  them, 
constituting  with  their  fellow-believers  the  “ holy  nation,”  the 
“peculiar  people,”  the  redeemed  church,  there  might  be  made 
known  to  this  world,  and  to  other  worlds,  the  manifold  wisdom 
of  God  in  the  scheme  of  his  salvation.  (Eph.  i,  ii,  iii.) 

This  is  missionary  language  ; the  language  of  men  chosen, 
taught,  anointed  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  sent  forth  to  fulfill 
the  command  of  Christ  as  to  the  evangelization  of  the  world. 
It  is  hence  the  language  which  furnishes  the  exact  conception 
which  the  church  is  to  lift  up  and  seek  to  realize  in  all  its 
endeavors  to  honor  the  same  command.  There  is  vast  signifi- 
cance in  this.  As  concerns  the  present  order  of  things,  the 
day  of  the  Jew  was  indeed  passed,  the  day  of  the  Gentile 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 


come.  The  middle  wall  of  partition  that  had  stood  stern  and 
defiant  through  the  long  centuries  of  the  old  economy  was 
broken  down.  Henceforth  the  gospel  was  to  he  preached  to 
all  men  everywhere,  and  preached  with  ecpial  pledge  of  deliv- 
erance, certainty  of  heirship,  forelook  of  triumph  to  all  who 
would  receive  it.  There  was  to  be  neither  Jew  nor  Greek, 
neither  Scythian  nor  barbarian,  neither  bond  nor  free,  but 
one  royal  fellowship,  one  divine  and  blessed  oneness  of  faith, 
hope,  and  love  in  Christ  Jesus. 

A GOSPEL  OF  SEPARATION. 

Nevertheless,  this  missionary  gospel,  this  gospel  to  be 
preached  among  all  the  nations,  was  to  be  emphatically  a 
gospel  of  separation,  a gospel  of  election,  a gospel  everywhere 
calling  out  and  setting  apart  a peculiar  people.  The  new  dis- 
pensation was  in  this  respect  the  precise  counterpart  of  the 
old.  The  very  terms  that  appear  in  and  distinctively  stamp 
that  old  economy  of  law,  reappear  in  and  stamp  this  new 
economy  of  grace.  “Covenant,”  “promise,”  “children  of  cov- 
enant,” “children  of  promise,”  “people  of  God,”  “peculiar 
people,”  “holy  nation,”  “heirs  of  promise,”  “inheritance,” 
“kingdom,”  “kingdom  of  priests”  — what  are  these  words 
but  the  very  vernacular  of  the  New  Testament,  the  perpetu- 
ally recurring  molds  in  which  the  Holy  Spirit  expresses  his 
thought  and  purpose  concerning  what  this  gospel  is,  and  what 
it  does  for  all  who  accept  its  offers?  In  other  words,  the 
supreme  end  which  in  this  age  the  Holy  Spirit  proposes  to 
accomplish  by  this  witnessing  of  the  gospel  to  all  nations,  is 
to  call  out  thence  a people  chosen  in  Christ  Jesus  before  the 
foundation  of  the  world ; set  apart  in  this  present  time  to  be 
the  witnesses  of  his  gospel,  the  revealers  of  his  grace ; and 
destined  in  the  ages  to  come  to  be  the  transformed  and  trans- 
figured reflections  of  himself,  and  as  his  body  and  bride  to 
share  his  royalty  and  glory. 

Let  us  make  no  mistake  here.  We  stand  under  the  pierced 
hands  and  the  bleeding  side.  We  know  this  cross  over  our 
heads  means  blood  shed,  death  suffered,  for  the  sin  of  the 
world.  We  compass  the  nations  and  the  ages  in  our  thought, 


8 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 


and  with  him  that  hangs  here  our  hearts  reach  out  far  and 
wide  with  ardent  desire,  with  inexpressible  and  tearful  long- 
ings that  all  men  may  know  this  Christ,  may  accept  this  gos- 
pel, may  possess  eternal  life. 

But  God’s  desires  are  not  God's  decrees.  This  Christ  pity- 
ing all,  eager  to  save  all,  is  the  Christ  rejected,  hated,  cruci- 
fied by  those  he  seeks  to  save.  The  amazing  invitation, 
“ Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I 
will  give  you  rest,”  is  uttered  in  all  ears,  but  only  here  and 
there  a Nicodemus,  a woman  at  the  well,  a thief  on  the 
cross,  makes  response.  Across  the  continents  for  eighteen 
centuries  have  sounded  the' wonderful  words,  “ God  so  loved 
the  world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever 
believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life;” 
but  among  the  swarming  millions  how  insignificant  the  num- 
bers that  care  to  listen,  and  how  few  of  these  that  are  eager  to 
possess  the  gift. 

DOES  THE  GOSPEL  PLAN  FAIL  ? 

But  this  is  what  is  to  be  expected  in  the  nature  of  the  case. 
This  is  a gospel  published  to  all,  inviting  all,  urging  all,  but 
compelling  none.  With  the  proclamation  of  this  gospel  to 
men  we  have  to  do;  with  men’s  acceptance  or  rejection  of  it, 
God.  We  plant,  we  water;  he,  and  he  alone,  gives  the 
increase.  This  is  the  doctrine  of  our  texG  and  of  all  Scrip- 
ture. Barnabas  and  Paul  are  sent  by  the  Spirit  to  Cyprus. 
They  preach  the  gospel  from  one  end  of  the  island  to  the 
other  — preach  it  in  the  Spirit,  and  hence  just  as  faithfully  as 
at  Antioch  or  Iconium.  Yet  we  do  not  read  of  any  spirit  of 
inquiry  here  as  in  those  cities.  No  church  appears  in  the 
records  as  planted  on  the  island.  No  gathering  even  of  those 
curious  to  know  of  the  new  doctrine  is  hinted  at.  The  Roman 
proconsul  “desired  to  hear  the  Word  of  God,”  and  “believed.” 
But  with  this  exception  the  work  stands  unattested  by  any 
results.  Was  this  missionary  tour,  this  proclamation  of  the 
gospel  in  Cyprus,  therefore  a failure?  No.  Paul  gives  us  the 
true  explanation  of  the  matter:  “Now  thanks  be  unto  God, 
which  always  causeth  us  to  triumph  in  Christ,  and  maketh 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 


9 


manifest  the  savour  of  his  knowledge  by  us  in  every  place. 
For  we  are  unto  God  a sweet  savour  of  Christ,  in  them  that 
are  saved,  and  in  them  that  perish.”  (II  Cor.  ii  : 14-15.) 
And  this,  observe,  is  not  some  inference  of  Paul’s,  some 
attempt  to  palliate,  or  excuse,  or  cover  up  his  failures.  It  is 
the  Spirit’s  own  testimony ; and  it  holds  good  evermore. 
If  the  millions  of  China,  and  India,  and  the  Dark  Continent 
accept  these  glad  tidings,  are  delivered  from  the  appalling 
curse  of  heathenism,  become  the  children  of  the  kingdom, 
blessed,  inexpressibly  blessed  the  work,  and  unutterably  glad 
may  they  rightfully  be  who  have  carried  the  message,  and  we 
who  have  sent  them  forth.  But  if  these  benighted  millions 
reject  this  testimony,  and  turn  away  from  the  lifted  cross  to 
their  cruel  and  debasing  superstitions,  none  the  less  accept- 
ably in  the  sight  of  God,  none  the  less  effectively  as  regards 
the  coming  of  the  kingdom,  will  these  gospel  heralds  have 
done  their  work. 

Judson  wrought  four  hard  and  painful  years  before  a single 
Karen  so  much  as  asked  the  way  of  life.  Morrison  toiled 
seven  long  years  in  China  before  he  saw  his  first  inquirer. 
The  missionaries  of  the  London  Society  spent  ten  years  in 
Madagascar  without  a known  conversion.  Fifteen  years 
rolled  away  at  Tahiti  before  the  first  native  voice  was  heard 
in  prayer.  Yet  Judson  was  as  faithful  the  first  year  as  the 
last,  and  pleased  his  Master  as  well  by  the  service  he  ren- 
dered. So  of  all  the  rest,  and  of  that  mighty,  unnamed  host 
who  through  all  the  centuries  have  had  like  experience  of  giv- 
ing a witness  everywhere  despised.  Abel,  Enoch,  and  Noah 
testified  to  a world  that  hurled  in  their  faces  its  mockeries 
of  the  God  they  worshiped  ; and  through  all  the  long  years  of 
their  witnessing  there  is  no  record  of  revival,  or  prayer-meet- 
ing, or  inquirer.  Yet  there  they  stand,  their  names  heading 
God’s  roll  of  honor  in  the  eleventh  of  Hebrews,  and  the 
eulogy  of  their  faith  and  witness  inspired  by  God  himself,  and 
by  his  command  hung  up  for  all  the  ages  to  read.  ' 

So  of  all  such  witnesses.  It  is  a fruitage  to  be  exceedingly 
desired,  that  three  thousand  souls  should  be  moved  by  a single 
sermon  to  cry,  “What  must  we  do  to  be  saved?”  Yet  it  does 


10 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 


not  appear  that  Peter  was  ever  privileged  to  repeat  that  expe- 
rience. It  is  a royal  honor,  and  one  that  must  thrill  the  heart 
of  him  who  enjoys  it  as  nothing  else  can  this  side  heaven,  to 
welcome  thronging  thousands  of  eager  converts,  as  our  breth- 
ren in  the  Sandwich  Islands  in  those  years  of  memorable  har- 
vest; and  as,  in  these  later  years,  the  Baptist  missionaries 
among  the  Telugus.  So  it  must  be  grand  to  give  a lifetime  to 
the  service  of  winning  souls,  like  Miron  Winslow,  and  our 
revered  brother,  the  still  spared  and  vigorous  Titus  Coan. 1 
But  such  honors,  such  service  are  not  permitted  to  all,  nor 
does  it  matter.  The  approval  and  the  rewards  of  the  Master 
turn  not  upon  the  length  of  the  service  rendered,  nor  upon  its 
apparent  success,  but  upon  its  fidelity:  “Be  thou  faithful 

unto  death,  and  I will  give  thee  a crown  of  life.”  And  when 
the  day  of  the  great  reckoning  comes,  it  will  be  found  that 
whether  the  toilers  wrought  few  or  many  years,  saw  few  or 
many  sheaves  gathered  into  the  garner,  or  even  died  without 
so  much  as  a visible  token  of  fruit,  no  labor  has  been  in  vain, 
no  life  has  been  a failure. 

WHY  MEN  REJECT  THE  GOSPEL. 

Are  any,  now,  oppressed  with  the  thought  that  this  concep- 
tion of  the  missionary  work  makes  it  seem  a kind  of  hopeless 
undertaking?  Do  they  stand  facing  these  unsaved  millions, 
and,  with  a feeling  almost  of  dismay,  ask  why,  after  eighteen 
centuries  of  the  preaching  of  the  cross,  so  few  comparatively 
have  been  reached  and  saved  ? I do  not  wonder.  There  are 
mysteries  here  that  no  human  wisdom  can  solve.  Why  men 
everywhere  do  not  accept  the  gospel,  with  its  mighty  deliver- 
ances and  glorious  hopes,  and  accept  it  as  eagerly  as  captives 
accept  liberty,  or  the  hungry  bread,  and  why  they  prefer 
instead  to  hug  sin,  and  endure  its  beggary,  and  submit  to  its 
iron  yoke  and  scorpion  lash,  I cannot  see.  But  one  thing 
I do  know,  one  thing  I can  say.  Standing  by  this  cross  of 
the  only  begotten  Son  of  God,  I know  that  God  pities  and 
loves  men,  and  with  all  the  immeasurable  fullness  of  his 
being  longs  for  their  salvation.  And  I know  that  wherever 


1 Since  deceased. 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 


11 


this  gospel  goes  and  this  cross  is  lifted,  unto  the  very  ends  of 
the  earth,  God  authorizes  the  message-bearers  to  plead  and 
beseech,  and  by  all  possible  agencies  strive  to  persuade  all 
men  everywhere  to  become  the  children  of  his  kingdom. 

And  when  you  ask  me  why  they  do  not,  I can  only  answer, 
with  one  of  these  first  missionary  witnesses:  “The  god 
of  this  world  hath  blinded  the  minds  of  them  that  believe 
not,  lest  the  light  of  the  glorious  gospel  of  Christ  should 
shine  unto  them.”  (II  Cor.  iv : 4.)  Make  all  we  may  of 
other  reasons,  of  peculiar  forms  of  superstition,  of  fetichism, 
and  caste,  and  cannibalism,  the  one  supreme  explanation  of 
the  rejection  of  the  gospel  lies  just  here : not  only  in  the 
heart  of  India,  and  China,  and  Africa,  and  under  the  shadow 
of  every  pagoda,  or  joss-house,  or  idol-shrine  of  whatever 
name,  but  in  Christian  lands,  within  the  walls  of  Christian 
churches,  within  the  homes  where  the  Word  of  God  is  read 
and  prayer  offered,  one  dire  and  tremendous  fact  confronts 
us  — the  hate  and  antagonism  of  the  devil.  Men  are  his 
slaves.  They  love  darkness  rather  than  light.  They  walk, 
believe,  think,  choose,  according  to,  and  under  the  influence 
of,  the  god  of  this  world.  The  father  of  lies  faces  every 
missionary,  every  minister  of  the  gospel,  and  his  hand  is  on 
the  latch  of  every  door  the  gospel  seeks  to  enter. 

THE  GOSPEL  SCHEME  INSPIRING. 

But  this  Scripture  conception  of  the  aim  of  all  missionary 
effort,  viz. : the  calling  out  from  the  nations  of  a peculiar 
people,  is  not  a depressing  one.  We  have  only  to  open  these 
missionary  epistles  to  see  how  wonderfully  it  inspires  faith 
and  inflames  zeal.  We  are  much  in  the  way  of  speaking  of 
our  calling  as  a calling  from  sin  simply,  as  a deliverance  from 
the  penalties  of  a broken  law,  as  the  possession  of  a hope 
of  final  admission  into  heaven.  Not  so  these  apostolic  wit- 
nesses. They  had  tasted  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come. 
They  had  seen  miracles  attest  the  divine  authority  of  their 
Lord,  and  the  divine  power  of  his  gospel.  They  had  looked 
upon  that  Lord  after  his  resurrection,  had  noted  the  signs 
of  his  oncoming  glorification,  had  stood  by  when  he  had 


12 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 


been  upraised  before  their  eyes,  and  had  disappeared  in  the 
clouds  of  heaven.  Some  of  them  had  seen  him  in  his  trans- 
figuration, and  had  been  the  privileged  eye-witnesses  of  the 
majesty  awaiting  him  and  them.  One,  at  least,  had  been 
caught  up  into  the  very  presence  of  the  throne,  and  enjoyed 
communion  with  him  whose  inheritance  he  was  to  share. 
And  out  of  this  understanding  of  their  calling,  what  heavenly 
ambitions  they  seek  to  incite,  what  glowing  ideals  alike  for 
admonition  and  encouragement  they  set  before  all  believers. 

They  faced  a world  lost,  hopeless,  despairful.  They  longed 
with  utmost  desire  for  the  souls  of  men,  and  with  prayers 

and  tears  by  day  and  night  they  sought  to  persuade  all 

who  would  hear  their  message  to  believe  unto  salvation. 

But  the  one  thought  regnant  ever  in  their  hearts,  and  by 

which  they  were  most  inspired  and  energized,  was  not  that 
they  were  sent  to  offer  a gospel  of  deliverance  from  the 
penalty  and  curse  of  sin,  but  a gospel  of  adoption  into 
God’s  family,  of  citizenship  with  the  saints,  of  heirship  with 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  of  ultimate  triumph  as  the  crowned 
and  glorified  sons  of  God. 


god’s  word  exalted. 

I turn  now  to  consider  some  of  the  practical  applications  of 
this  thought,  i.  And  first,  this : that  a supreme  allegiance 
to  and  exaltation  of  the  Word  of  God,  underlies  and  vitally 
conditions  this  whole  missionary  enterprise.  These  earliest 
missionaries  were,  as  we  have  seen,  chosen,  equipped,  sent 
out,  led,  taught,  empowered  of  the  Spirit.  And  for  what  ? 
To  be  as  the  Lord  had  pre-announced,  his  witnesses.  Whence 
came  their  messages?  In  part  from  what  some  of  them  had 
seen  and  known  while  associated  with  their  Lord ; in  part 
from  special  supernatural  revelations  made  to  them  from 
time  to  time  by  the  Spirit.  As  to  one  of  them,  the  witness 
was  to  be  to  truth  which  he  had  received  from  the  lips 
of  the  Lord  in  glory.  But  in  chief  part,  the  testimony  was 
to  be  as  to  the  teachings  of  the  scriptures  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment which  they  had  in  their  hands.  How  significant,  now, 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 


13 


that  they  who  testified  never  knew  any  difference  as  to 
divineness  or  authority  between  these  different  sources 
whence  their  messages  came.  Whether  from  the  lips  of  Jesus 
on  earth  or  in  heaven,  or  communicated  directly  by  the  Spirit,, 
or  taken  from  the  utterances  of  Moses,  or  David,  or  Isaiah, 
it  was  one  and  the  same  kind  of  testimony  — the  divinely 
inspired,  absolutely  infallible  Word  of  God. 

There  are  two  notable  things  about  this : first,  that 
these  missionary  witnesses  planted  themselves  on  the  irref- 
ragable authority  of  the  Scriptures;  and,  second,  that  they 
taught  the  doctrines  of  these  Scriptures  as  the  only  doctrines 
that  could  honor  God  or  help  men. 

These  teachers,  let  us  remember,  were  chosen  of  the 
Spirit,  and  supernaturally  qualified  for  the  specific  purpose 
of  making  known  to  men  the  truths  which  God  desired 
them  to  know,  and  upon  the  knowledge  of  which  hung  their 
eternal  welfare.  What  a mighty  emphasis,  then,  in  the  fact 
that  not  one  of  these  Spirit-taught  witnesses  to  the  truth 
ever  impugned  in  the  slightest  degree  these  Old  Testament 
scriptures  which  it  is  the  modern  fashion  to  ridicule.  Not 
a word  with  one  of  them  all  about  any  mistakes  of  Moses, 
or  David,  or  Isaiah.  Paul  even,  skilled  in  the  learning  of 
the  schools,  bred  to  all  the  exacting  demands  for  proof,  to 
all  the  distrust  of  theories  that  the  study  of  law  supplies, 
familiar,  too,  with  the  subtlest  forms  of  skeptical  thought, — 
Paul  nowhere  so  much  as  hints  at  any  errors  of  chronology, 
any  misstatements  of  history,  any  false  principles  of  ethics, 
any  unjust  conceptions  of  God,  any  tyrannous  ideas  of  moral 
government,  any  inhuman  requirements  of  any  kind.  Not 
a word  with  him  about  the  allegory  of  creation,  the  legend 
of  the  deluge,  the  parable  of  Lot,  the  myth  of  Jonah  and 
the  whale,  the  unchristian  spirit  of  the  imprecatory  Psalms. 
On  the  contrary,  this  peer  of  the  sages  of  his  time, 
sweeping  in  his  thought  the  range  of  the  culture  of  that 
day  — a culture  the  very  highest  antiquity  could  boast, 
and,  apart  from  Christianity,  the  highest  any  age  of  the 
world  has  ever  reached  — never  found  in  all  the  science  and 
philosophy  and  literature  of  that  profound  classic  learning 


14 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 


so  much  as  one  truth,  one  principle,  one  sentiment,  whereby 
to  correct  or  enrich  these  Scripture  testimonies  ! Not  only 
so,  but,  standing  in  the  august  presence  of  a Roman  governor 
■and  a Jewish  king,  he  went  back  to  the  records  now  most 
rejected  and  scoffed  at,  and,  planting  himself  there,  said : 
“Having  therefore  obtained  help  of  God,  I continue  unto  this 
day,  witnessing  both  to  small  and  great,  saying  none  other 
things  than  those  which  the  prophets  and  Moses”  — mark 
the  words  — “than  Moses  did  say  should  come:  that  Christ 
should  suffer,  and  that  he  should  be  the  first  that  should 
rise  from  the  dead,  and  should  shew  light  unto  the  people, 
and  to  the  Gentiles.”  (Acts  xxvi : 22-23.) 

And  there  stood  they  all.  Not  a man  or  woman  or  child 
in  this  missionary  epoch  ever  dreamed  of  doubting  the  full, 
divine  inspiration,  the  infallible  authority  of  the  Word  of 
God.  They  would  as  soon  have  thought  of  questioning  the 
stability  of  the  eternal  throne.  And  this  was  not  the  mere 
blind  assent  of  those  on  whose  necks  was  an  iron  yoke.  It 
was  the  profound  conviction  of  those  conscious  of  a blessed 
freedom,  and  moved  with  earnest  desire  to  win  others 
to  the  same  divine  fellowship.  They  knew  that  if  they 
were  to  command  men,  they  must  speak  with  the  authority 
of  God.  And  they  did.  And  that  is  the  only  ground  upon 
which  any  witness  for  God’s  truth  can  in  any  age  appeal 
to  men.  < 


THE  DOCTRINES  OF  SCRIPTURE  TAUGHT. 

But  these  apostolic  missionaries  made  it  their  prime  busi- 
ness to  unfold  and  expound  these  Scriptures.  And,  accord- 
ing to  their  witness,  the  salvation  of  all  men  turned  upon 
their  acceptance  or  rejection  of  the  doctrines  herein  revealed. 
What  those  doctrines  were,  how  clearly  these  records  every- 
where show.  A race  lost  and  without  hope  apart  from  the 
grace  of  God ; the  human  heart  natively,  and  persistently,  and 
mightily,  alien  from  God,  and  at  enmity  with  him  and  his 
law;  a divine  Christ  lifted  on  the  cross  as  a true  and  literal 
expiation  for  sin ; a heart  regenerated  by  the  supernatural 
power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  this  conditioned  upon  faith 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 


15 


in  Jesus  Christ;  the  real,  bodily  resurrection  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  and  his  glorification  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father, 
as  the  guaranty  of  the  like  resurrection  and  glorification 
of  his  saints ; the  return  of  the  Lord,  and  the  establishment 
of  his  kingdom  over  all  the  earth ; a day  of  final  judgment; 
and  beyond  this  life  a future  to  all  who  die  unsaved  un- 
lighted by  a gleam  of  hope  — these  are  the  unmistakable 
witness  of  these  earliest  and  Spirit-taught  missionaries.  And 
these  are  the  testimonies  repeated  and  reemphasized  by  the 
Spirit,  by  and  through  which  this  first  missionary  era  of 
the  church  achieved  its  grand  results,  and  in  the  life-time 
of  the  witnesses  sounded  forth  the  gospel  among  all  the 
nations  of  the  known  world.  (Col.  i : 6.) 

If  we  are  to  share  their  success,  we  must  share  their  faith 
and  their  testimony.  But  how  much  faith  and  testimony  in 
pulpit  and  pew  that  comes  short  of  this.  How  many  that 
impugn  the  infallible  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures;  that  de- 
clare their  chronology  false,  their  statements  of  fact  in  part 
untrue  to  history,  in  part  irreconcilable  with  science  ; that 
affirm  their  conceptions  of  God  unworthy,  their  teachings 
often  imperfect,  sometimes  contradictory;  that  insist  even 
that  the  Bible  is  only  one  of  various  divine  revelations  — the 
written  word,  the  book  of  nature,  the  testimony  of  reason  — 
and  that  these  three  are  of  coordinate  authority. 

Then,  along  with  such  views,  and  largely  as  their  legitimate 
outgrowth,  how  many  have  dissolved  all  the  blackness  out  of 
sin  ; put  pity  and  pardon  in  the  place  of  justice  and  penalty; 
substituted  development  for  regeneration  ; reduced  Calvary 
to  a vivid  object-lesson  of  God’s  love,  and  the  judgment  to  a 
figure  of  speech  ; metamorphosed  the  ages  to  come  into  a 
period  for  rectifying  the  failures  of  God’s  moral  government 
in  this  present  time ; and  finish  up  their  teachings  by  call- 
ing the  pit  of  perdition  a myth,  or  spanning  it  with  a bow 
of  promise. 

LAX  DOCTRINE  HOSTILE  TO  THE  MISSIONARY  SPIRIT. 

What  need  to  argue  how  utterly  antagonistic  all  such  teach- 
ings are  to  the  Scripture  theory  of  missions  ? That  theory 


16 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 


is  rooted  in  the  infallible  Word.  It  knows  only  a race  of  lost 
sinners.  It  exalts  God  and  magnifies  his  law.  It  sees  deliv- 
erance only  in  the  shedding  of  the  blood  of  the  one  true 
sacrifice  for  sin.  It  plants  the  necessity  of  supernatural 
regeneration  at  the  threshold  of  the  kingdom.  Its  only 
symbol  of  help  is  the  cross.  Its  only  word  of  hope  is, 
now.  Its  only  outlook  for  those  who  die  unbelieving  is 
a night  of  dread,  unbroken  doom.  Say  what  fine  things 
these  teachers  of  the  new  theology  may  about  the  innate 
goodness  of  man,  his  longings  for  light,  the  sweetness  of 
pity,  the  divineness  of  pardon,  and  the  like,  no  such  beliefs 
will  ever  send  men  to  face  the  malarial  death-belt  of  Africa, 
or  the  fierce  cannibals  of  the  South  Pacific.  No.  Only 
such  tremendous  truths  as  cluster  around  Sinai  and  Cal- 
vary— ruin,  redemption,  life,  death,  heaven,  hell  — can 
inspire  the  soul  to  such  undertakings.  To  confront  a lost 
world  with  judgment  and  doom  impending,  and  try  and  stir 
the  people  of  God  to  duty  with  a theology  of  this  limp  and 
modern  sort,  were  like  seeking  to  inspire  an  army  for  battle 
by  giving  it  chloroform.  Worse  even.  Such  doctrines  for- 
tify heathenism.  The  peril  of  Japan  to-day  is  the  tendencies 
of  her  thinking  men  toward  infidelity.  Dr.  Davis,  of 
Kioto,  says  that  he  has  had  to  meet  in  his  class-room 
the  infidel  objections  to  the  gospel  furnished  to  Japanese 
students  by  tbe  sermons  preached  in  American  and  so- 
called  evangelical  pulpits,  and  the  editorials  and  other  articles 
printed  in  so-called  evangelical  newspapers ! And  he  declares 
that  in  one  instance  he  took  a class  ready  to  graduate,  and 
spent  a full  month  in  steady  endeavors  to  uproot  these  tares 
sown  across  the  sea  by  American  Christians ! 

It  is  bad  enough  for  Christian  England  to  poison  China 
with  opium,  and  furnish  from  Birmingham  idols  for  the  Hin- 
dus to  worship  in  Bombay.  But  this  is  worse.  Opium  dead- 
ens chiefly  the  sensibilities,  and  idols  carry  no  daggers  ; but 
this  lax  theology  stupefies  the  church  at  home,  and  stabs 
Christianity  abroad. 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 


17 


CHRISTIAN  BENEVOLENCE. 

2.  But  again,  our  thought  furnishes  an  enlarged  concep- 
tion of  Christian  giving.  I noticed  a slight  demonstration  of 
applause  when  the  financial  report  of  the  year  was  read,  and  a 
small  credit  balance  appeared.  But  how  many  know  how  that 
balance  came  ? Read  this  opening  paragraph  in  the  October 
Herald , and  see  : “ Only  by  curtailment  of  needed  expenditure , 
and  by  deferring  sonic  payments  to  another  year  which  he  would 
have  gladly  included  in  those  of  the  present  year,  will  the  treas- 
urer be  able  to  report , as  he  hopes  to  do , a small  balance  on  the 
credit  side  of  the  treasury."  That  is  to  say,  by  cutting  off 
expenditures  urgently  demanded  by  the  work,  and  by  carry- 
ing over  to  the  next  year  the  debts  that  ought  to  have  been 
paid  in  this,  we  have  a credit  balance  ! Little  cause  that  for 
congratulation ! But  the  showing  is  even  worse ; for,  after 
all  our  brave  resolvings  and  re-resolvings  at  past  anniversaries 
to  advance  our  giving  at  least  twenty-five  per  cent,  the  figures 
show,  instead  of  gain,  an  actual  falling  off  in  our  contribu- 
tions, and  of  nearly  a thousand  dollars  the  current  year.  In- 
deed, only  the  gifts  of  the  dead  have  for  years  kept  this  Board 
from  becoming  bankrupt. 

I would  not  utter  one  discouraging,  much  less  one  censori- 
ous, word  here.  I will  not  affirm  with  President  Washburn 
of  Robert  College,  that  such  facts  indicate  a diminished  inter- 
est in  the  cause  of  missions  I will  not  echo  Professor  Christ- 
lieb’s  question,  “ Where  is  the  deep  enthusiasm  displayed  at 
the  time  when  most  of  our  missionary  societies  were  founded  ? ” 
I will  not  take  sides  with  Rev.  Griffith  John,  himself  a devoted 
missionary  of  the  London  Society,  who  cites  facts  and  figures 
to  show  the  flagging  zeal  of  English  Christians  I accept 
all  that  can  be  said  about  the  liberal  pouring  forth  of  treasure 
to  establish  and  endow  colleges  and  theological  seminaries  at 
home  and  abroad,  to  plant  schools  among  the  freedmen  and 
in  the  New  West,  to  build  houses  of  worship,  to  pay  church 
debts,  to  carry  on  city  missions,  to  help  forward  manifold 
other  Christian  and  philanthropic  enterprises.  Nevertheless, 
when  I remember  that  a thousand  millions  of  heathen  have 


18 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 


never  yet  beard  the  sound  of  the  gospel,  and  with  every  heart- 
beat are  passing  into  eternity  unsaved,  and  when  I think  of 
the  vast  resources  at  the  command  of  the  professed  followers 
of  Christ,  I cannot  but  arraign  the  church  as  sadly  unfaitbfu’ 
to  the  trust  committed  to  her  charge,  of  evangelizing  the 
nations. 

OUR  RESOURCES. 

Think  of  the  facts.  One  fifth  of  the  population  of  this  land 
is  claimed  to  be  made  up  of  evangelical  Christians.  Not  only 
so,  but  the  gain  of  such  evangelical  Christian  element  in  our 
population  during  the  past  thirty  years  has  been  sixty  per 
cent  greater  than  the  gain  of  the  population  itself,  with 
its  immense  influx  of  foreign  and  largely  irreligious  immi- 
grants. What  follows  ? Secretary  Clark  stated  last  year,  as 
his  deduction,  that  the  “very  atmosphere  is  charged  with 
moral  and  religious  ideas  ; ” that  “ a sense  of  great  obligation 
to  God  and  to  mankind  pervades  the  nation;”  that  hence  the 
“lever  to  raise  the  world  out  of  the  degradation  of  heathenism 
has  been  placed  in  our  hands.”  This  of  our  spiritual  resources. 
What  now  of  the  financial  ? Let  us  see.  Our  mines  furnish 
every  year  $100,000,000  of  gold  and  silver;  then,  according 
to  Dr.  Dorchester,  supposing  the  Christian  to  hold  his  own 
with  others  in  industry,  sagacity,  success,  one  fifth  of  this 
belongs  to  the  church.  Our  agricultural-products  yield  not 
less  than  $2,000,000,000  and  one  fifth  belongs  to  the  church. 
Our  banks  are  said  to  have  an  aggregate  of  deposits  of  not 
far  from  $3,000,000,000,  and  one  fifth  belongs  to  the  church. 
Our  coal,  and  iron,  and  copper,  and  salt,  and  coal-oil,  and  man- 
ufactures do  not  yield  less  than  $500,000,000,  and  one  fifth 
belongs  to  the  church.  Our  railroads  yield  in  net  earnings 
$250,000,000,  and  one  fifth  belongs  to  the  church.  And  the 
wealth  of  the  country,  it  is  to  be  remembered,  more  than 
keeps  pace  with  the  advance  in  population.  As  a matter  of 
fact,  it  has  quadrupled  since  1850,  and  multiplied  sixteen  fold 
within  the  memory  of  persons  now  living.  Mr.  Mulhall,  an 
English  statistician,  says,  “ Every  day  the  sun  rises  upon  the 
American  people  it  sees  an  addition  to  the  accumulated 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 


19 


wealth  of  the  republic  of  $2,500,000,  which  is  equal  to  one 
third  the  daily  accumulation  of  mankind.”  And  Senator 
Hoar,  of  Massachusetts,  is  authority  for  the  statement  that 
“ every  twenty  years  there  is  added  to  the  valuation  of  this 
country  wealth  enough  to  buy  the  whole  German  Empire, 
with  its  buildings,  and  its  ships,  and  its  invested  property.” 
And  one  fifth  of  all  this  prodigious  increase  supposably 
belongs  to  the  church. 


OUR  GIFTS. 

But  what  are  the  facts  now  as  to  our  Christian  giving? 
How  far  does  this  “atmosphere  charged  with  moral  and  relig- 
ious ideas,”  this  “sense  of  great  obligation  to  God  and  man- 
kind,” arouse  Christian  people,  and  constrain  them  to  pour 
forth  their  money  for  the  spread  of  the  gospel  ? The 
first  fact  in  the  wav  of  answer  has  already  been  noted,  viz. : 
that  in  spite  of  all  the  eloquent  utterances  at  St.  Louis  a year 
ago,  and  all  the  enthusiasm  with  which  the  resolution  was 
adopted  to  advance  our  contributions,  this  year’s  giving  is  a 
thousand  dollars  less  than  that  of  the  year  preceding.  More. 
For  twenty  years  our  Congregational  churches  have  made  no 
gain  in  the  per  cent  of  their  giving.  Taking  the  last  five 
years  and  comparing  them  with  the  five  years  preceding, 
there  has  been  a yearly  falling  off  of  more  than  $20,000,  or  of 
five  and  two  thirds  per  cent.  In  1850  the  average  of  giving 
was  $1.21  per  church-member;  in  1881,  a fraction  more  than 
than  91  cents.  A strange  kind  of  spiritual  electricity  this 
vvith  which  the  atmosphere  of  the  land  is  “charged!”  A very 
peculiar  “sense  of  great  obligation  to  God  and  mankind”  that 
pervades  the  church!  If  the  lever  to  raise  the  heathen  be 
indeed  in  our  hands,  we  are  not  remarkably  zealous  in  using  it. 

Meantime  we  spend,  so  the  papers  say,  $125,000,000  every 
year  for  dress  goods,  and  Christian  people  spend  their  share; 
$25,000,000  for  kid  gloves,  and  church-members  spend  their 
share;  $5,000,000  for  ostrich  feathers,  and  the  disciples  of 
Christ  spend  their  share;  $80,000,000,  at  least,  for  tobacco, 
and  Christian  men,  and  some  ministers,  spend  their  share: 
$180,000,000  are  estimated  to  have  been  spent  abroad  in 


20 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 


travel  and  purchases  by  6o,ooo  Americans,  the  past  year,  and 
Christian  travelers  spent  their  share.  Then  how  many  houses 
of  Christian  people  built  every  year,  that  cost  from  §20.000  to 
$100,000  each?  How  many  Christian  business  men  put 
$50,000,  $75,000,  $100,000  into  a single  enterprise  — a manu- 
factory, a mine,  a lumber  venture,  a speculation  in  stocks  — 
and  repeat  it  every  few  years  as  an  ordinary  business  trans- 
action ? How  many  who,  by  their  own  witness,  realize  from 
$10,000  to  $50,000  yearly  in.net  income? 

Put,  now,  these  figures  as  to  our  resources  and  these  as  to 
our  expenditures  side  by  side  with  the  figures  which  show 
what  we  give  for  the  spread  of  the  gospel,  and  what  can  we 
say  more  truly  of  this  latter  sum  than  to  call  it  a pitiful  dole? 

But  where  lies  the  trouble?  Primarily  in  the  lack  of  a pro- 
found sense  that  all  we  have  and  are  is  the  purchase  of  the 
blood  of  Calvary,  and  as  such  is  to  be  held  and  used  entirely 
subject  to  God’s  disposal.  We  need  preeminently  a baptism 
of  consecration. 

LACK  OF  SYSTEMATIC  GIVING. 

Then,  further,  those  who  are  disposed  to  give  have  little  or 
no  system  in  their  benevolence.  Note  the  facts: 

The  last  Year-Book  gives  as  the  total  of  our  church-mem- 
bers 381,697.  Let  us  discard  the  odd  thousands  as  unable  to 
give.  Suppose  the  remaining  300,000  wefe  to  give  five  cents 
per  week  towards  missions ; that  would  be  $2.60  per  member, 
or  a total  of  $780,000;  considerably  more  than  double  the 
amount  contributed,  apart  from  legacies,  the  current  year. 
Again : Suppose  these  300,000  givers  were  to  be  divided 
thus:  150,000  to  give  five  cents  per  week;  75,000,  ten  cents 
per  week ; 50,000,  twenty  cents  per  week ; 25,000,  fifty  cents 
per  week  ; then  the  account  would  stand  thus: 

1 50,000  church-members  at  .05  per  week  = $390,000 

75.000  “ “ “ .10  “ “ “ 390, coo 

50.000  “ “ “ .20  “ “ “ 520,000 

25.000  “ “ “ .50  “ “ “ 650,000 

This  gives  a total  of  $1,950,00x3  — a sum  which,  setting  aside 


THE  HOLV  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 


21 


the  bequests,  is  more  than  five  times  what  was  contrib- 
uted the  past  year.  Do  any  think  the  apportionment  exces- 
sive and  burdensome  ? The  surrender  of  one  cigar  a day 
would  more  than  pay  the  share  of  some.  . The  saving  of 
street-car  fare  by  walking  one  way,  either  to  or  from  business, 
would  pay  it  with  more.  The  sacrifice  of  one  picture,  one 
book,  one  plume,  one  bit  of  jewelry,  one  Christmas  gift,  one 
button  on  kid  gloves  even,  would  pay  it  with  how  many. 
Writes  one  of  our  well-known  missionaries,  “ Last  year  the 
amount  given  by  the  churches  of  this  field,  comprising  1,408 
church-members,  was  $7,060.  To  appreciate  this,  you  should 
see  their  poverty.  Giving  here  means  self-denial  — the  giv- 
ing up,  not  of  luxuries,  for  those  are  little  known,  but  of  the 
comforts  and  necessities  of  life.  Were  the  self-denial  repre- 
sented in  that  $7,000  practiced  by  the  home  churches,  the 
treasuries  of  benevolent  societies  would  be  so  full  that  their 
managers  would  not  know  what  to  do  with  the  money.”  If 
these  300,000  giving  members  of  our  churches  should  each 
contribute  fifty  cents  per  week,  this  missionary  prophecy 
would  come  true.  For  then  there  would  pour  into  the  treas- 
ury the  enormous  sum  of  $7,800,000;  and  this  simply  as  the 
result  of  a system  of  paying  our  dues  to  the  Lord  as  regularly 
as  we  pay  them  to  men. 


DEVOTION  OF  INCOMES. 

But,  dear  friends,  why  should  we  not  go  far  beyond  this? 
There  are  many  Christian  men  whom  the  Lord  has  so  pros- 
pered that  they  have  reached  the  point  of  competency,  and 
not  a few  have  passed  it,  and  are  rapidly  accumulating 
wealth.  Their  families  are  amply  provided  for ; they  can 
educate  their  children,  meet  all  needful  expenses,  and  lay  by 
a cash  surplus  of  from  $5,000  to  $50,000  in  fair  business 
times.  Why,  now,  should  not  a large  number  of  such  men, 
with  from  five  to  twenty  years  of  active  life  before  them,  say: 
“Lord,  I cannot  go  abroad  to  preach  to  the  heathen,  but  I can 
earn  the  money  to  send  those  who  will  do  the  work  better 
than  I could,  and  henceforth  I purpose  to  give  myself  to  mak- 


22 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 


ing  money  to  this  end.  Give  me  thy  blessing,  that  I may  reap 
thirty,  sixty,  an  hundred-fold.” 

Suppose  there  were  ten  cities  in  New  England  outside  of 
Boston,  like  Portland,  for  example,  that  could  furnish  each  ten 
such  men  — men  who  could  put  $5,000  apiece  into  this  treas- 
ury. Suppose  Boston  could  furnish  fifty  who  could  put  in 
$10,000  each,  New  York  City  as  many  more,  Chicago  and  the 
West  — we  are  very  poor  out  there,  you  know,  with  only  three 
or  four  hundred  millions  of  dollars’  worth  of  corn  a year,  as 
much  more  of  wheat,  and  so  on  — Chicago  and  the  West  fifty 
more  at  $5,000,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  churches  of  the  land 
an  equal  amount  in  varying  sums,  then  we  should  have  this 
showing: 


Ten  cities  with  ten  men  contributing  each  $5,000 $500,000 

Boston,  with  fifty  contributing  each  $ 10,000 500,000 

New  York  City,  with  fifty  contributing  each  $10,000 500,000 

Chicago  and  the  West,  with  fifty  contributing  each  $5,000  ....  250,000 

The  remaining  churches  contributing  an  equal  amount 1,750,000 

Income  of  the  Board  from  these  sources $3,500,000 

Add  the  contributions  of  the  churches  on  the  basis  of  weekly  gifts, 
previously  suggested 1,950,000 

Total  of  missionary  receipts $5,450,000 


You  smile  at  such  figures.  But  I insist,  with  all  soberness, 
that  there  is  nothing  preposterous  about  them.  I believe  that 
when  Christian  men  are  as  zealous  and  as  wise  in  their  gener- 
ation as  the  children  of  this  world  are  in  theirs,  and  bring  to 
bear  the  same  sagacity,  and  enthusiasm,  and  devotion  of  means 
in  managing  the  Lord’s  business,  they  will  keep  such  sums 
pouring  into  the  Lord’s  treasury. 

One  thing  more.  Men  of  the  world  form  syndicates  for  the 
sale  of  stocks,  lands,  and  the  prosecution  of  various  enter- 
prises. Why,  now,  should  there  not  be  mission  syndicates  ? 
Why  should  not  a score  or  more  of  Christian  capitalists  get 
together  and  divide  up  a province  of  China  among  them,  each 
one  assuming  his  share  of  the  territory  to  be  occupied,  and 
saying,  I will  be  responsible  for  giving  or  raising  all  the 
money  required  to  evangelize  the  people  of  my  district? 
and  then  another  group  of  missionary  financiers  say,  We  will 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 


23 


take  Japan,  and  another  circle  the  Bihe  field  in  Africa,  and 
another  the  work  proposed  in  Umzila’s  kingdom,  and  so  on  ? 
Why  is  it  not  just  as  practicable  to  develop  missions  thus  as 
it  is  mines  or  railroads? 

MOTIVES  OF  INSPIRATION. 

3.  This  line  of  thought  brings  into  the  foreground  the  true 
motives  which  are  to  inspire  our  efforts,  and  emphasizes  the 
true  secret  of  success.  Some  of  our  missionaries  think  we 
are  in  peril  here.  They  speak,  in  their  letters  to  me,  of  those 
who  are  moved  largely  by  the  “ romance  of  missions;”  who 
are  more  affected  by  the  “ privations  and  sufferings  of  the 
missionaries  than  by  the  needs  of  the  lost  and  the  commands 
of  the  Lord.”  More  potent  still,  they  think,  is  the  feeling- 
prevalent  among  the  churches,  that  inclines  to  test  all  mission 
work  bv  its  apparent  results,  and  that  has  much  or  little  inter- 
est in  it  accordingly.  Given  so  much  money  and  so  many 
men,  and  such  and  such  progress  ought  to  follow  : China, 
India,  Africa,  the  world  even,  evangelized  in  so  many  years. 
If  the  work  does  not  show  such  appreciable  fruitage,  such 
positive  and  increasing  dividends  upon  the  outlay,  it  is  a 
failure.  So  runs  the  theory. 

But  such,  clearly,  are  not  the  motives  which  are  to  determine 
our  missionary  zeal.  Our  duty  to  send  the  gospel  to  the  hea- 
then no  more  depends  on  the  trials  and  sufferings  of  the  mis- 
sionaries, than  on  the  climate, in  which  they  labor  or  the 
food  they  eat.  Just  as  little  is  it  to  be  measured  by  percent- 
ages and  the  multiplication  table.  Not  that  we  are  to  make 
no  account  of  facts  that  go  to  the  stirring  up  of  enthusiasm. 
Far  from  it.  By  all  means  let  us  magnify  whatever  tokens  of 
cheer  are  to  be  found.  Let  us  incite  our  zeal  by  the  proofs 
that  these  age-long  and  relentless  despotisms  of  Oriental  faith 
are  at  last  giving  way.  Let  us  exult  over  the  Sandwich 
Islands  redeemed,  and  Madagascar  redeemed,  and  the  Telugus 
flocking  by  thousands  to  the  cross.  Let  us  take  highest 
inspiration  from  these  open  doors  that  now  on  every  hand 
invite  the  heralds  of  salvation.  Let  us  accept  all  these  proofs 
of  what  Christianity  has  done  and  can  do.  Nay,  let  us  accept 


24 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 


even  Ihe  statistics  — hard  as  they  are  for  some  of  us  to 
believe — which  testify  of  the  expansion  and  potency  of  evan- 
gelical religion  ; albeit  I should  as  soon  think  of  counting  the 
headstones  in  a cemetery  to  find  out  the  growth  and  resources 
of  a city,  as  of  counting  the  names  on  church  registers  to 
measure  the  progress  and  power  of  the  gospel.  Nay,  let 
us  accept  the  dry  bones  of  the  prophet’s  vision  that  are  to 
become  men  under  the  breath  of  the  Spirit,  and  reckon  them 
among  the  forces  that  are  to  push  on  this  missionary  work. 

But  let  us  never  forget  that  all  such  facts  are  simply  encour- 
agements ; in  no  sense  the  grand,  impelling  motives  for  carry- 
ing the  gospel  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  With  that  question, 
so  far  as  concerns  our  obligation,  neither  the  sufferings  of 
missionaries  nor  the  presumptions  or  probabilities  of  success 
have  anything  to  do.  We  stand  precisely  where  these  disci- 
ples in  the  text  stood  when  the  Spirit  said,  “ Separate  me 
Barnabas  and  Saul  for  the  work  whereunto  I have  called 
them.”  Not  a word  as  to  any  conditions.  Not  a word  of 
promise  as  to  idolatry  loosening  its  hold,  temples  becoming 
churches,  Cyprus  redeemed,  Asia  Minor  redeemed ; not  so 
much  as  the  barest  hint  at  any  success  that  was  to  follow. 
They  were  to  go  forth  simply  because  the  Holy  Spirit  assigned 
the  work.  Theirs  the  responsibility  of  testifying — his,  of 
making  the  testimony  bear  fruit. 

Exactly  so  with  us.  No  matter  whethfer  success  in  the 
work  comes  early,  or  late,  or.  does  not  come  at  all.  No  mat- 
ter whether  thousands  hang  upon  the  witness  of  the  Word, 
and  revival  follows  revival  till  the  Dark  Continent  is  luminous 
with  the  light  of  heaven,  and  China  and  India  are  vocal  with 
the  songs  of  the  redeemed ; or  there  be  roused  instead  the 
spirit  of  heathen  hate,  and  the  messengers  of  peace  by  scores 
and  hundreds  seal  their  testimony  with  their  blood.  Nay,  no 
matter  if  all  the  missionary  toils  and  tears  and  martyr-deaths, 
from  the  day  of  our  Lord’s  utterance  of  his  last  command  till 
now,  had  not  won  a single  soul;  all  this  would  not  take  a 
feather’s  weight  from  the  obligation  laid  upon  our  hearts. 
Neither  success  nor  failure  determines  duty.  We  are  soldiers. 
From  our  great  Captain’s  lips  one  summons  rings  ever  in  our 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS.  25 

ears  — “Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to 
every  creature.”  It  is  not  for  us  to  debate,  but  to  obey. 

OBLIGATION  CENTERED  IN  LOVE. 

I do  not  forget  that  mere  enforced  obedience  is  not  what 
our  Lord  asks;  that  if  we  give  our  bodies  to  be  burned,  and 
have  not  love,  it  profiteth  nothing.  But  I assume  that  we 
are  not  hirelings  rallying  under  the  banner  for  the  pay  we 
get,  and  much  less  an  army  of  slaves  or  conscripts,  doing 
battle  against  our  will.  No;  we  are  fellow-servants  with  him 
who,  while  constrained  by  the  surpassing  love  of  Christ,  felt 
that  necessity  was  laid  upon  him.  Our  personal  devotion  to 
him  whose  name  we  wear,  is  the  one  glad  and  potent  inspira- 
tion to  all  service.  But  because  we  are  his  true  followers,  and 
are  ruled  by  his  love,  we  accept  his  yoke  as  the  true  symbol 
of  our  calling,  and  know  no  sweeter  privilege  than  obeying 
his  commandments,  doing  his  will.  Service  is  what  proves 
and  exalts  love. 

Ah,  if  in  this  age  of  sentiment,  of  little  sense  of  God,  of 
loosened  grip  of  conscience  and  of  obligation,  the  Lord’s  pro- 
fessed people  could  only  be  got  face  to  face  with  him,  as  Moses 
when  the  bush  flamed  with  the  ineffable  presence  of  Jehovah  ! 
or  as  Isaiah,  when  the  splendors  of  the  eternal  throne  with  its 
attendant  seraphim  flashed  before  him  ! And  if,  while  they 
were  conscious  of  the  overshadowing  of  God,  and  of  the  alle- 
giance they  owe  to  him,  there  could  be  stamped  on  their  souls 
in  letters  of  fire  that  old  and  almost  forgotten  word,  obedience, 
a revival  of  missionary  zeal  would  be  sure  to  follow. 

I 'am  sure,  my  brethren,  that  our  greatest  need  lies  here. 
Genius  is  well,  and  eloquence,  and  learning,  and  sagacity,  and 
money ; but  they  are  not  the  foremost  needs  of  this  great 
work.  When  God  would  send  Moses  on  his  mighty  errand, 
and  failed  to  convince  him  that  he  would  have  success,  you 
remember  he  said  to  him  at  last,  “What  is  that  in  thine 
hand  ? ” Moses  answered,  “ A rod.”  “ Cast  it  on  the  ground,” 
said  the  Lord.  He  did  so,  and  it  became  a serpent,  the 
instrument  of  a miracle.  It  was  the  commonest  bit  of  a thorn- 
bush — rude,  battered,  unsightly  — just  such  as  the  Arabs  of 


26 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 


the  desert  use  with  their  flocks  to-day.  Yet  God  yoked  his 
omnipotence  thereto!  And  thenceforth,  wherever  that  rod 
went,  God  went;  wherever  it  was  lifted  with  reverent  and 
prayerful  heart,  the  majesty  of  heaven  seemed  obedient  to  its 
behest.  Plague  after  plague  came  and  went,  the  sea  was 
cleft,  the  Amalekites  were  defeated,  waters  burst  forth  from 
the  rock — there  was  nothing  that  could  withstand  its  power. 
And  when  the  day  of  it£  service  was  over,  it  seems  to  have 
been  laid  up  by  the  ark  — a rod  covered  with  buds  and  blos- 
soms— to  be  a memorial  evermore  of  how  God  chooses  the 
weak  things,  and  base  things,  and  things  that  are  despised,  to 
confound  the  things  which  are  mighty,  and  bring  to  naught 
the  things  which  are. 

In  this  profound  conviction  of  our  utter  nothingness,  and 
in  the  kindred  conviction  of  the  infinite  resources  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  as  always  available,  always  waiting  to  be  appro- 
priated by  the  Lord’s  disciples,  must  always  lie  our  real 
inspiration  and  the  secret  of  our  success.  Think  a moment 
why. 


THE  CONFLICT  — THE  FOE. 

Christian  living  is  a battle,  not  a hymn.  Here  are  two 
mighty  kingdoms  — the  kingdoms  of  light  and  of  darkness,  of 
good  and  evil,  of  Christ  and  Satan  — pitted  against  each  other, 
and  having  as  their  issue  the  triumph  of  - truth  or  error,  of 
holiness  or  sin.  What  tremendous  and  dire  conflict  does 
this  involve.  And  how  manifest  that,  in  the  final  struggle 
that  impends,  the  forces  of  good  and  evil  will  be  marshaled 
with  the  utmost  sagacity,  and  hurled  against  each  other  with 
an  energy  and  a determination  never  paralleled  before. 

This  kingdom  of  evil  is  no  figure  of  speech.  It  is  an 
organization  real,  complete,  potential,  and  that,  ever  since 
that  far,  mystic  time  when  the  angels  forfeited  their  high 
estate  and  were  thrust  out  of  heaven,  has  steadily  sought 
to  thwart  God.  At  its  head  is  the  prince  of  the  power 
of  the  air,  the  god  of  this  world,  a being  by  native 
endowment  only  inferior  to  the  Son  of  God.  He  organizes 
its  forces,  projects  its  campaigns,  leads  on  its  undertakings. 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 


Co-working  with  him,  sharing  his  spirit,  eager  to  execute  his 
behests,  pliant  to  his  slightest  wish,  is  a vast  host  of  princi- 
palities and  powers,  possessing  amazing  gifts  of  intelligence, 
activity  and  strength, — once,  it  is  quite  possible,  the  equals 
of  Gabriel,  Michael,  and  the  noblest  angels  that  surround 
God’s  throne.  Through  all  the  ages  of  human  history, 
this  realm  of  fallen  magnates  has  had  but  one  aim,  and 
has  concentrated  on  that  all  its  infernal  sagacity,  and  hate, 
and  energy.  That  aim  has  been  the  ruin  of  our  race. 
From  the  fall  of  our  first  parents  down  to  this  hour,  what- 
ever of  deceit,  and  wrong,  and  violence,  and  pain,  and 
woe,  have  been  in  the  world,  have  been  due  directly,  accord- 
ing to  God’s  Word,  to  the  machinations  and  efforts  of  this 
arch-enemy  of  God.  But  when  the  Babe  of  Bethlehem  was 
born,  the  gates  of  the  pit  swung  wide,  and  perdition,  as  it 
were,  emptied  itself,  that  its  dark  legions  might  destroy 
the  hopes  of  men,  and  prevent  the  enthronement  of  Christ 
as  universal  King.  We  stand  on  the  eve  of  the  final  battle. 
Mighty  as  the  antagonisms  of  the  past  have  been,  this  is 
the  hour  of  supremest  conflict.  Hence  the  resources  of  the 
potentate  of  evil,  all  his  infernal  craft,  and  malignity,  and 
far-reaching  influence,  will  be  taxed  to  the  last  degree.  For, 
if  he  fails  now,  he  fails  forever. 

OUR  HELP. 

The  issue  is  not  doubtful.  Yonder  empty  tomb,  yonder 
ascending  Lord,  hardly  less  than  the  word  that  cannot  be 
broken,  give  certain  pledge  of  the  triumph  of  the  Christ- 
kingdom.  But  tremendous  warfare  foreruns  and  conditions 
that  triumph ; and  in  waging  this,  we  need  the  highest 
encouragements  and  helps.  Such  we  have  preeminently  in 
the  leadership  and  sovereignty  of  the  Spirit.  He  was  in  the 
counsels  of  eternity,  and  with  the  Father  and  the  Son  pro- 
jected the  scheme  of  redemption.  He  met  the  great  adver- 
sary at  the  threshold  of  human  history,  and  made  the  first 
death  caused  by  sin  become  the  first  victory  of  redeeming 
grace.  He  inspired  the  sweet  hope  of  the  coming  Messiah 
with  which  the  hearts  of  patriarchs  and  prophets  were  made 


28 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 


glad.  He  set  the  types  of  the  slain,  and  risen,  and  glorified 
Christ  all  through  the  ritual  and  records  of  the  old  economy. 
He  prompted  all  the  prayers  of  faith,  all  the  confessions 
of  sin,  all  the  seekings  after  God,  from  Eden  to  Bethlehem. 
He  supplied  the  wisdom  for  building  tabernacle  and  temple, 
and  for  securing  the  successful  rulership  of  the  kingdom. 
He  touched  the  lips  of  David  and  Isaiah,  and  gave  to  the 
church  through  them  a legacy  of  comforts,  and  helps,  and 
hopes,  which  all  the  centuries  cannot  exhaust.  More  than 
this  He  shared  the  humiliation  of  him  who  was  born 
in  the  stable,  and  shared  it  as  the  supreme  agency  by  which 
God  and  man  became  one  for  the  salvation  of  the  lost.  He 
had  to  do  with  every  utterance  of  that  Saviour  when  he 
spake  as  man  never  spake,  with  every  invitation,  promise, 
benediction,  denunciation ; and  with  every  deed  of  benefi- 
cence, every  sign  and  wonder  as  well.  He  was  an  outcast 
equally  with  the  despised  Nazarene.  He  felt  all  the  insults, 
all  the  opprobrium,  all  the  scorn  of  which  Jesus  was  the 
continual  object.  He  felt  the  pangs  of  the  garden,  the 
shame  and  anguish  of  the  cross.  For  he  pitied,  he  loved 
men  even  as  Christ,  and  he  was  with  the  all-enduring  one 
to  the  end.  Nay,  more:  he  quickened  the  lifeless  body 
in  the  tomb  of  Joseph,  clothed  it  with  the  glory  of  the  resur- 
rection, and  the  higher  glory  of  the  ascension,  and  now  is  in 
the  world,  filling  the  place  of  our  absent  L'ord,  and  with  all 
his  infinite  knowledge,  and  wisdom,  and  power,  is  carrying 
the  gospel  scheme  to  its  appointed  issue.  What  a wonderful 
source  of  confidence,  what  a prodigious  guaranty  of  success 
we  have  then  in  this  doctrine  of  the  Spirit.  Here  is  he  who 
from  the  beginning  has  known  and  had  to  do  with  every- 
thing pertaining  to  this  work  of  saving  men,  who  fathoms 
all  the  plans,  and  machinations,  and  secret  thoughts  of  the 
arch-adversary,  who  possesses  in  himself  all  the  measureless 
resources  of  the  Godhead,  and  whose  most  intense  desire 
and  purpose  are  centered  in  the  final  exaltation  of  Jesus 
Christ  as  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of.  lords. 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 


29 


OUR  SYMPATHIZERS. 

And  let  us  remember  that  we  are  not  alone  in  this  great 
conflict  with  the  powers  of  darkness.  Above  us,  crowding 
the  very  vault  of  heaven,  is  a mighty  cloud  of  witnesses. 
Patriarchs,  prophets,  kings  — the  innumerable  company  saved 
by  a gospel  that  they  knew  only  in  type  and  shadow,  yet 
rejoiced  in  — are  there.  And  there  are  apostles,  evangelists, 
teachers,  whose  delight  was  in  witnessing  this  gospel,  and 
who  counted  it  a divine  privilege  to  share  their  Master’s 
reproaches,  and  lay  down  their  lives  in  his  behalf.  There, 
too,  is  the  gathered  host  of  those  missionary  toilers  who,  in 
later  years,  faced  dungeons  and  stakes,  and  savage  hate  and 
cruelties,  that  they  might  make  known  the  tidings  of  salva- 
tion, and  whose  bones  whiten  to-day  on  the  soil  of  every 
continent  beneath  the  sky.  And  there,  mingled  with  all 
these,  is  the  countless  throng  of  angels  whose  supreme  joy 
it  is  to  know  of  the  victories  of  the  cross.  What  a glorious 
fellowship  is  this,  bending  eagerly  over  the  battlements  of 
heaven,  full  of  ardent  sympathy  with  our  aims,  sending  down, 
as  it  were,  their  words  of  cheer,  and  with  palms  in  their 
hands  inciting  us  to  deeper  zeal,  and  waving  us  on  to  victory ! 
Yes,  and  above  them  all,  more  interested  than  they  all,  there 
flashes  the  vision  of  One  with  feet  as  burnished  brass,  with 
eyes  as  flaming  fire,  whose  countenance  is  as  the  sun  shining 
in  its  strength,  and  whose  voice  is  as  the  sound  of  many 
waters.  The  prints  of  the  nails  are  still  in  his  outstretched 
hands ; the  scars  of  the  thorn-crown  are  still  discernible  on 
his  brow.  And  as  I look,  his  lips  part,  and.  there  comes  to 
my  ears  the  message : “ Go  ve,  therefore,  and  teach  all 
nations ; and  lo,  I am  with  you  alvvay,  even  to  the  end  of  the 
world.” 

Oh,  my  brethren,  gathered  in  such  a presence,  waiting 
with  one  accord  in  one  place,  waiting  with  urgent  and  tear- 
ful pleadings  of  the  promise  yoked  to  this  divine  command, 
why  should  there  not  come  upon  us  the  baptism  of  the 
Pentecostal  fire?  Nay,  why  should  there  not  be  born  of 
this  meeting  a missionary  spirit,  a divine  passion  for  souls, 


30  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND  MISSIONS. 

• 

that  should  lead  on  an  era  of  Pentecosts  to  be  repeated,  and 
re-repeated  with  ever  widening  range  and  waxing  power, 
until  that  one  blessed  day,  for  which  through  weary  centuries 
this  tossed  and  groaning  earth  has  waited,  and  God  has 
waited,  and  the  crucified  and  risen  Redeemer  has  waited, 
shall  be  ushered  in  — the  kingdom  of  Christ  come,  and  the 
glory  of  the  Lord  cover  the  earth  as  the  waters  cover  the 


sea ! 


